Characterization of the relic Almuñécar grapevine cultivar.

A prospection of Andalusian Mediterranean vineyards was carried out in search of the traditional Almunecar grapevine, used to produce raisins of quality. An ampelographical description and a genetic characterization, using 20 nuclear microsatellite loci , showed that this cultivar constitutes a clone of Muscat of Alexandria. In reference to biotic stress, this cultivar has a high sensibility to powdery and downy mildews and medium sensibility to the grapevine pathogen Botrytis cinerea . At the present time, it constitutes a relic cultivar due to different sanitary and economical causes analyzed in the text.